This week’s Newsmaker Interview is with KTTH Radio Host Jason Rantz (Weekdays, 3:00 – 6:00 PM).  Rantz often breaks local political news on his radio program and on MyNorthwest.com, and he regularly appears on national FOX News to provide local perspective on the wacky world of Seattle politics.  For Shift  readers, Rantz talks about why the local media has a double standard in going after Republican officials, yet rarely challenge the hypocrisy of liberal officials who have all the power in our state.  Rantz also provides his insights on the 2021 contest to become Seattle’s next mayor and on the lack of ideological diversity in Seattle’s media. (Newsmaker Interview)

Washington Policy Center’s Jason Mercier noticed that Governor Jay Inslee’s Washington State Department of Commerce (DOC) has removed from its webpage the fact that Washington does not have a state income tax, and that not having such a tax is a competitive advantage for why businesses should locate in our state.  Shift had reported previously that the DOC’s “Choose Washington” site stated, “We offer businesses some competitive advantages found in few other states.  This includes no personal or corporate income tax.”  Many found this sales pitch ironic (if true), since the governor at the same time was attempting to eliminate this advantage for our state by promoting an unconstitutional state income tax.  The DOC was asked by Mercier why they have removed this line and who approved this change.  The department failed to provide specific responses to Mercier’s questions, and provided this incredibly evasive response: “The specific change you reference was made earlier this month and is consistent with updates we’ve made to other materials over the past several months.” Then the DOC spokesperson stated the department wanted their material to “reflect” the same advantages as national publications do.  Somehow we believe the real reason for the change is that the Inslee Administration finally realized that while pushing for an illegal state income tax it appears very hypocritical to be promoting the lack of that very income tax as a selling point to bring companies to the state.  There will likely be more on this story in the coming days.  (Choose Washington website)

Senators Perry Dozier (R – Walla Walla) and Ron Muzzall (R – Whidbey Island) described in (virtual) speeches the heartbreaking experiences their family members are having operating restaurants during Governor Jay Inslee’s repeated shutdowns of their businesses.  Senator Dozier spoke of his sister and brother-in-law, who have had to close one of their two establishments and how the anxiety caused serious health problems for his sister.  Senator Muzzall, a farmer who provides items to local restaurants, spoke about two of his nieces who operate multiple establishments and how they have “reached the end of their ability to see hope.” (Senate Republican Caucus podcast)

The Seattle Times was strongly critical of the Inslee Administration’s failure to protect Washington citizens by efficiently administering COVID-19 vaccines once they arrived last month..  As Shift has reported previously, this is the latest of many serious failures of the Inslee Administration during the COVID pandemic, most of which have gone little reported because of Inslee’s total control of the information flow about the state’s pandemic response.  The Times points out that the state had over six months to prepare for the vaccines arrival, and that the technical and administrative problems which have plagued the state’s immunization efforts should never have occurred.  The Inslee team appears to be more concerned with blaming its problems on the federal government (which other states have been able to overcome), instead of correcting its mistakes.  The University of Washington’s Dr. Ali Mokdad is quoted as saying, “We had six months to prepare for it. We didn’t do it. So let’s not blame anybody, but let’s face it.” (Seattle Times and Shift)

Governor Inslee continues to insist that his proposed income tax (starting on capital gains) will aid small businesses which have been devasted by his random shutdowns of the economy during the pandemic.  Yet, since it is well known that the first collection of this tax will not occur for another 27 months (in April of 2023), claiming that this illegal income tax is part of a COVID-19 response is obviously a false statement.  It is true only if the Inslee Administration is planning to make small business owners and workers suffer another 2-and-a-half years under his COVID-19 mismanagement before any relief is delivered. (KING5 News and Legislative Staff SB 5096 Report)

Representative Andrew Barkis (R – Olympia) pleaded, “Governor Inslee open up this State!!!!!” in a Facebook post Thursday evening.  Rep. Barkis said he just watched yet another news story about the suffering being experienced by a restaurant owner.  Barkis stated that employers have repeatedly shown that they can adapt to the state’s random regulations and still operate safely. Barkis concluded, “Time to end the emergency and work with the legislature to safely open our state back up.” (Representative Barkis Facebook)

Governor Inslee’s dysfunctional Employment Security Department (ESD) paid benefits on 10 fraudulent claims that were made in the name of ESD employees who were still working at the ESD.  KING5 News uncovered this latest display of government incompetence in documents received from a public records request (which took ESD bureaucrats over seven months to respond to).  Foreign criminals attempted to use the identification of 59 different ESD employees to claim benefits and, due to basic security measures which were relaxed by ESD leaders, 10 of the claims were paid out, and were not identified as fraudulent until after the money had been deposited in the criminals’ bank accounts. (KING5 News)

Under Governor Inslee’s “Healthy Washington” plan, the state will announce each Friday if any of the eight regions of the state will be allowed to move forward in resuming activities the following Monday.  As expected, the state announced today that Jay Inslee will not allow any part of the state to escape his most severe economic restrictions and open much of its non-government employee workforce next week. (YakTriNews)

 Loren Culp, who badly lost his race for governor last year, has finally dropped his frivolous lawsuit against Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman over her factually reporting the state’s election results — after the state threatened to seek legal sanctions against Culp’s attorney if the silly case was not withdrawn.  The state was prepared to show that many of Culp’s allegations were “factually baseless”, which sane people already knew. (Seattle Times)

Fall City’s historic Roadhouse Restaurant and Inn is one of many establishments that is currently on the verge of closing due to Governor Inslee’s never-ending and random restrictions on small retailers.  The establishment, which has been in operation since the early 1900s, cannot offer outdoor dining due to being located next to two gas stations.  The restaurant used to have 49 employees and is now down to just four, plus the owners. (Q13 News)

King County officials say the 11-million-gallon sewage spill that occurred last Tuesday night was the result of a once in a 200-year occurrence – and not just part of the routine incompetence that results in large sewage spills nearly every year under the same King County officials.  The downpour of rain caused a flooding at the West Point treatment center, and the resulting power outage shut down the system’s pumps.  The spill forced Kitsap County to issue a health warning along its Eastern Puget Sound shorelines, to being harmed by the incompetence on the mainland. A King County official attempted to cover his agency’s failure by claiming the county would need to raise sewage bills by 1000% to install system to prevent a spill like this from occurring again. (MyNorthwest)

The Washington State Supreme Court released its 47-page ruling that allows the recall effort of Benton County Sheriff Jerry Hatcher to proceed.  The court had previously (and unanimously) allowed the recall campaign, organized by officers within Hatcher’s department, to continue.  The ruling states that “(t)he recall petition alleges 26 separate charges that, assuming, as we must, the truth of the allegations, illustrate a toxic and authoritarian culture that Sheriff Hatcher has created since his appointment in 2017.” “Toxic and authoritarian” sounds like Jay Inslee’s approach to COVID-19 response. (Tri-City Herald)

The Port of Pasco has opened a 300-acre industrial center which is expected to employ 2,300 people once the land is fully utilized.  Parcels of the land are now available for sale in the new Reimann Industrial park.  It is estimated that the complex will generate $800 million in investment and create over $15 million dollars annually in property tax. (Walla Walla Union Bulletin/Tri-City Herald)

Taco Bell’s announcement that it will be returning potato items to its menu in March was applauded by Eastern Washington potato farmers.  The fast-food chain had announced last August that they were removing the items to reduce inventory costs.  Yet the public responded that they wanted the items back.  Quincy’s Weber Farms said this decision will have “a really big impact on us.” Eastern Washington potato growers have been severely impacted by the sudden drop in restaurant business due to the pandemic. (iFIBER One)

Democrat Governor Jay Inslee was afraid of a special session of the legislature, and now we know why.   Even before the regular session of the Washington State Legislature began this week, both Republican and Democrat legislators were pre-filing bills to remove Inslee’s dictatorial “emergency” powers that the governor mis-used during his failed one-man rule of the state since March.  Inslee feared any session of the legislature, even one controlled by his own party, because he knew the legislature would challenge his broken logic, overreaching rules, and inaccurate COVID dashboards by instead putting responsibility back into the hands of the elected representatives of the people of Washington. (Shift Article)

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